Thread: Alaskan Cruise for "twenty somethings"

I am posting this question because of the amount of confusion I have had when searching for the answer to this question. My wife and I are both 26 years old. We have been on two cruises before in the Caribbean. We traveled on Carnival both times and enjoyed both very well. We are looking at an alaskan cruise in August of 2011 and do not like the Carnival itineraries for Alaska. We are interested in Princess, Holland America, and Royal Caribbean Alaskan cruises (not necessarily in that order). We understand that Alaskan cruises in general cater more to "more experienced" generations than ours. We would like to get any information about people's experience on cruise ships from cruisers who have been on Alaskan cruises. I am not looking as much for on shore excursion advise. For example, we would like to know if the "nightlife" dies early or if amenities close early. My wife and I enjoy shows, music, comedy, and bars / clubs for the "twenty something" crowd. We typically stay up sort of late when we go out for fun (midnight to 2 AM). I greatly appreciate any posts and I promise to provide an update, post cruise, to any questions about our experience

My Alaskan cruise was on Princess, which is considered an excellent line for Alaska. They have various different itineraries such as the one way (Northbound and Southbound between Anchorage and Vancouver), the round trips (out of Seattle and San Francisco) and some longer (10 or 14 days) which are usually on one of the smaller ships.

Besides the choice (I think Carnival and RC just do the one-ways), Princess has a naturalist onboard to narrate the glacier cruising. Holland also does this, but it sounds like that wouldn't be a good choice (they tend not to have much of a late night life, from what I've heard).

Princess may have more things happening at night, but that depends on the demographics onboard on a specific sailing, as well as the cruise director. If you go between mid to late June on to late August, you may find a lot of families onboard (with some parents in your age group).

The shows onboard Princess are often at 7 and 8:15 or 8 and 10:30.

On our last cruise, there was a few parties held in the grand atrium area til 11 or later, but it was a holiday cruise, so that probably accounted for that (we saw all age groups dancing and listening to the band). I'm not sure if any of the Alaskan cruises, no matter the line, would be conducive to a full nightlife past 1am -- it's a different crowd. It may have been an "older folks" type of cruise maybe 20 or 30 years ago, but not nowadays, though.

Welcome to CLF... Alaska is amazing and folks of all ages enjoy these cruises. Many of the CLF Members have crusied Alaska so I'm sure you'll see amny comments and suggestions coming your way. We are looking forward to an Alaska cruise in 2012...

welcome to cfl!!!

i would try out royal or princess u cant go wrong with those 2 first and hal as my last choice

Based on your requirements, I would tend to agree that Princess would probably be more to your liking than the others.

Pete

we have done several alaskan cruises on different cruise lines -- the majority of them on hal

hal tends to attrack an older crowd -- the majority of activites do close down early

i think you will like princess

Have FUN selecting your Alaska Cruise!

Hey there! Welcome to our friendly cruise community!

I agree with the others...Princess would probably be the better fit for what you are looking for. Royal Caribbean would be my second choice with HAL 3rd.

Alaska is our favorite itinerary! We fell in love with that great land and have cruised there six times! I'm sure you will be equally impressed!

Welcome to CLF